Gender Differences in the Acquisition of English Language Skills among Students in Secondary Schools in Kenya
Journal Title: Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences - Year 2017, Vol 5, Issue 11
Abstract
This study is premised on the notion that boys and girls perform differently in communicative English with girls often outperforming the boys. Generally, pragmatic errors, in particular pragmabehavioral errors, are often cited as direct cause of misunderstanding leading to communication breakdown. Using a descriptive research design and a sample of ninety respondents, the researcher isolated errors in day-to-day communication of the respondents and documented the seriousness of these errors. The main objectives of the study were to identify and describe the types of pragmabehavioral communication and errors, and examine gender differences and individual variations of these pragmatic errors among the Kimeru L1 learners of L2 English. The study was guided by Murcia’s [1] Model of Communicative Competence. The sample was drawn from three selected secondary schools in Central Imenti Sub-county, Meru County, Kenya. The main instruments of data collection were observation schedule and teacher interviews. Results indicate that there were gender differences in the way the female and the male used gestures and facial expressions, spatial distance, oculesics, body posture, artifacts and voice modulation. These results are hoped to raise awareness of gender differences in pragmabehavioral communication and the role pragmabehavioral communication plays in ensuring that a second language learners achieve communicative competence. Keywords: Pragmabehavioral errors, Pragmatics, second language acquisition.
Authors and Affiliations
Kinuu Caroline, Kirigia Eliud, Rutere Albert
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP381182
- DOI -
- Views 66
- Downloads 0
The Adequacy of Kenya National Examination Councils’ Malpractice Penalties in Public and Private Secondary Schools in Kisii County, Kenya
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to examine the Adequacy of Kenya National Examination Councils’ Malpractice Penalties in Public and Private Secondary Schools in Kisii County, Kenya. This study employed ex post fac...
The Borders of Cameroon From the Origins to the Present Day: Stakes and Challenges
Abstract: In the past, three natural elements made it possible to locate Cameroon geographically. It is indeed, from Lake Tchad, the coast and Mount Cameroon. This pre-colonial Cameroon consisted of traditional kingdoms...
The Effect of Organizational Reputation on School’s Policy Encouraging Participation of Employees in Decision Making Process at School
Abstract: The purpose of present study is to investigate the effect of organizational reputation on school’s policy encouraging participation in decision making. The participants were 214 master’s students in April 2013...
Service Quality Strategy as the Determinant of the Growth of Private Secondary Schools in Kenya
Abstract: The aim of this journal article is to discuss the findings of the examination of the influence of service quality strategy on the growth of private secondary schools in Gilgil Sub-County, Kenya. Schools across...
Labor and effort from the perspective of Parvin Etesami
“Human is offspring of his effort”(Charles Darwin).According to the fundamental role of the working in the social and economic life of the humans and necessity of the making effort in the family economic cycle and also t...